The answer may surprise you.
None. The answer is none. Not a single film in Variety’s list of those currently eligible for the Oscar’s so much as made it within viewing distance of my eyeballs.
This isn’t necessarily a comment on the quality of this year’s films. Certainly there are some very well-received among the ranks as well as some real stinkers. Yet it is a comment on how well the industry is catering to my contemporary tastes; something which may well intersect strongly with different lifestyle circumstances than last year.
This speaks volumes of the current state of the industry and its fascination with catering to broad swathes of demographics in the name of profitability. The genre of the animated family comedy is an anathema to what excites my interests, mainly because we’ve seen so many (and so many that are similar) since Pixar entrenched it into the public’s consciousness. The genre may be profitable, but it’s been a creative blind alley for a few years now.
Other films on the list are certainly more appealing, yet high-brow films such as The Red Turtle, and Miss Hokusai suffer from an infuriating degree of inaccessibility. They aren’t necessarily playing at the local cinema and there are no alternatives until they either come out on home video, or you’re willing to find other illicit sources.
This year’s slate of animated films is stronger than at any time in the past, yet it’s a near dichotomy between the ‘fun for all the family’ CGI fare, and the exquisite animated masterpieces that are hard to come by. There is a real lack of middle ground where films can challenge the masses with artistic flourishes yet be accessible enough that they can play in places that are easily accessible to audiences.
It’s agreeable that Kubo and the Two Strings sits within this middle ground, yet as I noted previously, the film’s failure to find an audience was its undoing and signifies the risk of pursuing exactly the strategy mentioned above. Yet this unstable ground is the only place that animated films have yet to fully explore creatively. Big-budget films have their formulae down pat, and technology (among other things) has made it easier than ever to craft high-brow artistic films that push the artform as a whole. The space between ought to connect them, yet it remains a gaping void. Economics undoubtedly play a role in the existence of this void as Kubo’s performance demonstrates.
However, the onus is on filmmakers and producers to find a way that bridges this gap. Audiences are hungry for creative content and it’s false to say that they occupy a niche. To use a food analogy, they aren’t looking for a Big Mac, but they aren’t looking for a prime rib at an upscale place either. They’re looking for that one meal that’s a local favourite because it’s a specialty crafted by people with years of experience.
None of this year’s films seemed like that to me, and although my tastes may have changed from 2015, it doesn’t explain why I had such a low desire to actually see any of them. The answer as to why remains elusive, but I’m hoping that next year proves to be an improvement.
Being tall, Irish and a civil engineer by trade, Charles stands out in the animation crowd, hence his position as the
Animation Anomaly.
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The Shocking Number of This Year’s Animated Features That I’ve Seen
The answer may surprise you.
None. The answer is none. Not a single film in Variety’s list of those currently eligible for the Oscar’s so much as made it within viewing distance of my eyeballs.
This isn’t necessarily a comment on the quality of this year’s films. Certainly there are some very well-received among the ranks as well as some real stinkers. Yet it is a comment on how well the industry is catering to my contemporary tastes; something which may well intersect strongly with different lifestyle circumstances than last year.
This speaks volumes of the current state of the industry and its fascination with catering to broad swathes of demographics in the name of profitability. The genre of the animated family comedy is an anathema to what excites my interests, mainly because we’ve seen so many (and so many that are similar) since Pixar entrenched it into the public’s consciousness. The genre may be profitable, but it’s been a creative blind alley for a few years now.
Other films on the list are certainly more appealing, yet high-brow films such as The Red Turtle, and Miss Hokusai suffer from an infuriating degree of inaccessibility. They aren’t necessarily playing at the local cinema and there are no alternatives until they either come out on home video, or you’re willing to find other illicit sources.
This year’s slate of animated films is stronger than at any time in the past, yet it’s a near dichotomy between the ‘fun for all the family’ CGI fare, and the exquisite animated masterpieces that are hard to come by. There is a real lack of middle ground where films can challenge the masses with artistic flourishes yet be accessible enough that they can play in places that are easily accessible to audiences.
It’s agreeable that Kubo and the Two Strings sits within this middle ground, yet as I noted previously, the film’s failure to find an audience was its undoing and signifies the risk of pursuing exactly the strategy mentioned above. Yet this unstable ground is the only place that animated films have yet to fully explore creatively. Big-budget films have their formulae down pat, and technology (among other things) has made it easier than ever to craft high-brow artistic films that push the artform as a whole. The space between ought to connect them, yet it remains a gaping void. Economics undoubtedly play a role in the existence of this void as Kubo’s performance demonstrates.
However, the onus is on filmmakers and producers to find a way that bridges this gap. Audiences are hungry for creative content and it’s false to say that they occupy a niche. To use a food analogy, they aren’t looking for a Big Mac, but they aren’t looking for a prime rib at an upscale place either. They’re looking for that one meal that’s a local favourite because it’s a specialty crafted by people with years of experience.
None of this year’s films seemed like that to me, and although my tastes may have changed from 2015, it doesn’t explain why I had such a low desire to actually see any of them. The answer as to why remains elusive, but I’m hoping that next year proves to be an improvement.